Everywhere, Birds
by Sacred Dust
Summary: "I was born from darkness. And you play shadow tag with a bunch of children." Raven has unfinished business with the Titans' arch-nemesis. Rated M for a reason.


_A few notes on Slade: I'm leaving out his origins as Deathstroke in the 80s comics, just like the show did. I don't think he's Bruce Wayne either. He was very mysterious and seemed to have a story all his own. We never found out what it was, so I'm throwing in my own ideas here. I do not own Teen Titans, and this is rated M for a reason. Reviews help Raven meditate._

**Everywhere, Birds**

_Teen_

_Titans_

Deep within his sanctuary, he plotted to destroy them.

It was just like old times again… almost. His resurrection by Trigon had made him even more powerful than before. Flight, teleportation and greater endurance were all his. The monstrous demon lord to whom he owed these gifts had been vanquished, as he hoped—leaving him the sole force capable of defeating the Titans.

Slade Wilson rose from his chair and stalked over to the nearest instrument panel. The familiar _clank_ of his metal suit was the only sound in the darkened chamber, as he preferred. He had never been much for company. Truth be told, his most frequent "guests" were probably those meddlesome children.

They possessed everything he did not have. Natural power. Fame and respect. Freedom and happiness. Love. These were dreams he had given up on long ago. He had seen them come true for others, but not for him. He reflected on all those nights he wasted, hoping and praying for a hero to come save him from a life he never asked for.

No hero ever came. He weathered years of suffering, but it was the loss of his eye that finally broke him. _No more_, he decided. There were hundreds of so-called "supers" said to exist in this world, and not one of them could be bothered to save someone like him, who needed it most.

It was _their_ fault. They had deceived him with hope, poisoned his mind with their legends. They flew in the clouds and looked pretty while he lay scarred on a basement floor.

And now they would pay for it. He would cleanse this world of all those who dared call themselves heroes, and leave the people to suffer as he did. The Teen Titans were not the first he had neutralized, nor would they be the last. But they had resisted him successfully for years, always finding a way to elude his iron grip.

"Not this time," Slade muttered to himself. No more half-measures, no more mind games. It was time to write a rewarding end to this long and arduous chapter of his career.

He brought up his audio log to prepare a new entry. Smooth as silk and pure as hatred, his voice echoed off the metallic walls.

"Birds. Everywhere, birds. I stood in a giant aviary full with them, all shapes and sizes. A hawk, a black canary, a golden eagle, a crow…and best of all, a robin. But one bird was missing. One was gone. Did I mention I had a dream last night?" He chuckled softly to himself. So immersed was he in his speech that he did not notice a nearby panel of security monitors going black, one by one.

"This vision occurred for a reason. It showed me the first so-called Titan I must eliminate. I confess I shall enjoy it the most of all. She is the only one of them who does not fear me, but this will change before the end. My revenge shall be complete. Thorough. And very, very personal. I can feel her demon's blood on my hands already."

He stopped the recording and smiled beneath his mask. The plans were in place. All that remained was to send out a regiment of his robots or a weak-minded ally to provide a distraction and then grab her. There was no reason to make it any more complex than that…

"Sorry, Slade," a voice hissed from the shadows. "But it's your turn to fear _me_."

His eye widened.

The voice was sardonic, uncaring and darkly female. Innocence and evil, a dulcet bitterness that he could have picked out in a crowd of thousands. It had always been agitating, but something was different. This time, it excited him in a way that was deeply uncomfortable.

"Let me guess...you were going to abduct and kill me? Makes sense. The Teen Titans are weak. They are young, disorganized and easily outsmarted. If you just killed one of them and showed the others, it would be easy to pick them off from there."

The cloaked figure stepped into a shaft of light. A glimmer of ashen skin and violet hair gave her away, but that was intentional. Giving herself was part of what she had come to do.

His unseen muscles tightened with a carefully controlled rage. "Do you know how I despise uninvited guests? And after I helped Robin find you in Azarath...I thought your manners would have improved."

"That's why I'm talking to you instead of hitting you from behind. You deserve a fair fight with me. But once it starts, all bets are off...and I do mean that."

Did she truly believe she could defeat him? And by herself at that. Slade turned on her with unusual ferocity, his bo staff at the ready. "How appropriate that you should alter another of my plans. I was prepared to acquire you by force, and here you are."

_Okay, here we go, _Courage told her. _You know what you have to do. _She took a deep breath, then placed on a hand on her hip and shot him a coy smile. "Oh yes, Slade. Just me…and you."

His brow furrowed in bewilderment. Dark energy crackled through the air like sandpaper on his nerves. Before he could react, a steel table was wrenched from the wall and flung straight into him. He sailed across the room into the opposite wall. Momentarily stunned, he fell and rolled to his feet. There was barely time to raise his staff as more equipment flew at him. Raven had never concentrated her powers on such a scale. In moments his hideout was a maelstrom of electrical debris.

Dodging a flying monitor and deflecting some loose panels, Slade began to run circles around her with unnatural speed. This room was sparsely furnished. If he stayed elusive for long enough, she would run out of "ammunition" and be his.

Raven knew this herself, and gladly played into it. Weeks of intensive meditation and study had been worth the wait. If she could vanquish the demon who had fathered her, she could certainly take care of business here. The question was how. Recalling what she picked up from his aura in previous encounters, the answer was clear.

It was also notably unpleasant.

Slade smashed aside a toolbox, and seeing there was nothing left for her to use, went in for the kill with his staff. She parried his strikes expertly with energy shields. "Good job, Slade. You're doing something yourself for once. I hope it's not cutting into your busy schedule."

With a growl, he broke through her defenses. She fell back into an overturned table.

Slade grabbed the front of her cloak and easily lifted her with one arm. "Disappointing, Raven. Your weaknesses are quite evident now. I learned more from your father than you did."

"Don't ever compare yourself to me," she spat with defiance. "I was born from darkness. And you play shadow tag with a bunch of children."

He threw her into some overturned crates. She forced herself up, feeling the wind knocked out of her. One of her legs was cut open and bleeding. Anger and Courage threatened to overwhelm her, but a new emotion shouldered them aside. _Out of the way, girls. It's my turn now._

Slade walked up and backhanded her across the face. She fell again into rolls of electrical tape.

"I'm afraid the fun is almost over. It's a pity that you'll go out like this."

Raven sighed deeply and reclined on the tape as if it were a bed. She parted her knees. Her eyes gleamed at him under the hood. "Already? I thought our fun was just beginning."

Her nemesis froze. What on earth was she doing?

She knelt before him and leaned forward. "That's right, Slade. I know you want me…and I've put up with those brats for two years just so I could get you alone."

"What are you talking about?" his hand shook almost imperceptibly.

_I am _so_ bad at this,_ Raven thought.

_He's not killing you, _Lust whispered. _Keep going. _

"Use your staff on me, Slade," she cooed, swallowing her disgust. "I _love_ when you do that."

"You must be insane," he recoiled from her, unable to hide his disbelief. She studied him hungrily, like an animal about to pounce—and then she did.

Caught off guard and shocked to see her attack him physically, Slade blindly swung his staff, but she was no longer there. He was blasted from behind a moment later as Raven came up through the floor.

The mastermind reeled away in pain. More energy bolts sizzled through the air in rapid succession. He managed to shield himself with his staff, but the assault was forcing him steadily backward.

Raven focused her reserves on the giant instrument panel behind him, slowly but surely detaching it from the wall. Slade never saw it floating overhead, and Raven let it fall on him with a horrible crash. Amid the flying sparks and fizzling cables, she concentrated all her power into one more attack.

"Azarath…Metrion…_Zinthos!"_

The raven spell rose up from behind her, free of its cage once and for all, and swooped down on the wreckage. A terrific blast rocked the subterranean refuge. Alarms blared uselessly from the stone walls and were quickly silenced. She had gone through the rest of the facility just to warm up.

She strode calmly through the settling dust to find him pinned beneath the rubble. His armor was cracked and broken in several places, the mask slightly askew on his face. At long last, he was defeated with nowhere to run.

"You have accomplished nothing," he coughed. "There are others. I have very powerful friends."

"Good. I wouldn't mind some dessert after I finish with you. But if you're done playing hard to get…"

_Devour him,_ said Lust.

"…I have a little going-away present."

Eldritch flames ignited her leotard and slowly burned it from her skin. Slade's eye bulged at her nakedness in horrified fascination. Her breasts were small and rounded, the nipples darker gray and pink at the tips. A puff of blue hair ghosted between her legs.

"Wow, look what went away," Raven giggled shamelessly. With anyone else it would be unthinkable, but this was different, wasn't it? Her eyes locked on him and read his aura. Just as she thought, the sight was giving him no pleasure—only a crippling, long-dormant fear.

She picked up his staff with her mind and bent it around his chest and arms to restrain him.

"Demon," he choked out.

"I wouldn't judge if I were you. We all have our demons. And now, I know yours." Her eyes glowed crimson with triumph. Finally the tables were turned. Who knew that his constant mockery and innuendos were hiding such an ironic weakness?

Slade behaved differently around her, he kept his distance from Starfire, and he had used only one female associate. She suspected that he feared women, but this was a terror beyond her wildest dreams. And it was delicious. She wouldn't pollute her body with the likes of him, but she was going to have some fun nonetheless.

Raven's cloak spread across his vision like nightfall as she dove on top of him. It took but a thought to tear his uniform aside. "You will not do this. You can't—" His words dissolved into a scream as she took him in her freezing hands. Her depraved powers inflicted hideous pain and forced him to arousal where there was none.

"I'll pay you back for all the shit you've done to us," she panted in his ear. "Make you want me. You're already a stalking psycho. Might as well go all the way…"

He pleaded with her desperately, thrashing his legs.

"…And get yourself some." She winked and continued using him. Her hands shook even as they bled darkness.

Slade thought he knew what to expect from her. But this was a Raven Roth he had never seen, who left her conscience at home between the meditation guides and the obsidian Ouija board. A Raven who could read his nightmares and make them all come true at once.

Slade climaxed involuntarily, wracked with dread as his own body betrayed him. He wept behind his mask as she removed her hands and lay on top of him.

"Pretty shy with the ladies, aren't you? But that's okay. You were good enough for me."

"_Why?"_ he rasped.

"Sorry, hot stuff, but you make it pretty easy. And we're not even finished yet."

_Now,_ said Anger.

_Yes. And then I'll never do it again, _she replied.

_Fine! Just do it NOW!_

"Even you can't hide your emotions from me, Slade. And boy, do you have some doozies…"

"No. Please," he cried. But he knew how useless it was.

She reached down and tore his mask away, revealing a badly scarred face with teeth missing. His black hair was unkempt from days of obsessive work. His left eye was blue; his right had been slashed with something sharp a long time ago. Only the empty socket was left. Unfeeling, she placed her hand on his forehead to taste even more of his fears.

A shudder of anticipation went through her. Oh, yes. This was going to be good.

_A locked cellar with comics stashed in the walls—all he has. A tall woman, dominant and violent. Betrayal of one's own flesh. Huge muscular superheroes, impossibly sanitized and waving to the cameras. Hating them. Faces of colleagues and enemies. Birds everywhere. A robin flying out of his reach. A raven descending on him…_

"No, Mommy," she whined like a child. "Please don't hit me with that."

Slade trembled as two more eyes blazed from Raven's forehead. "Get away! Get out of my head!"

She couldn't. It was rapturous, and she delved into his mind for more. Her body vanished beneath her cloak. Black tendrils slithered out greedily in its place. "Mommy, I promise I'll be good! I won't read them anymore!" She bared her teeth like the monster she had become.

"NO!" His arms and legs lashed out in a frenzy of terror. She stroked his face with obscene gentleness and began to pull him under her cloak.

"_Don't make me do that, Mommy!"_ Raven snarled in a voice that could have frightened the bravest foes. _"Where was a hero when I needed one? If they couldn't save me from her, they can save no one from anything. And they all have to pay." _

Slade begged for mercy. She barely heard it. The memory of an Azarathian wind roared in her ears.

"_Well, guess what, Slade…" _she tightened her grip on him._ "I'm not a fucking hero."_

She swallowed his final scream into her demonic body.

_Teen_

_Titans_

The following night was a typical one at Titan Tower. Video games, pizza, jokes various and sundry. But just a few things were different: a large green birthday cake and a red party hat perched atop their leader's head.

"You know, you guys didn't have to do this." Robin said for the tenth time.

"But of course we do, friend Robin!" Starfire insisted. "The day of your mother's labor is meant to be very enjoyable."

Beast Boy forced him to try the cake he just made; for once, Cyborg liked it and asked for the recipe.

Only Raven was silent, but that was expected of her. She stayed on the couch reading one of her occult books until the party was over.

Robin waved the others off to bed and removed the hat with some relief. He glanced curiously at his half-demon friend, who had been off in her own world the entire time. "Hey, Raven. We should get some sleep. We never know when Slade's going to strike again, right?"

She smirked as if she'd just remembered a private joke. "Yeah. Right," She closed the book and stood up.

Robin took one more curious glance at his gifts. From Cyborg, a book on martial arts he'd already read; from Beast Boy, some comics that looked suspiciously well-used; from Starfire, a…what the heck was that, anyway? Something Tamaranian.

"I never saw much of a point in celebrating my own birthday," he told her. "I just don't need the attention. So...I'm glad you didn't feel like you had to get me anything."

Raven startled him with a kiss on the cheek as she turned to leave.

"I already did."

**The End**

_Teen_

_Titans_

_A/N: So many of us write about Raven, but few understand her. We love to talk about her, portray her, even pretend to be her. Through her we get a taste of evil without falling victim to it ourselves. In a way, we use her._

_Raven would not like being used, by us or her greatest enemy. But I think she would permit me, if only she could get to _him. :) _Cheers._


End file.
